Founded in 2013 by Jim Iredale, certified designer of passive houses, the Mont-Tremblant business Landmark Passivhaus – formerly Landmark, founded in 1987 – recently changed hands. Its new owner is construction contractor Keven Laporte. As a result, the Mont-Tremblant region can continue to rely on a team of professionals who specialize in building energy-efficient buildings that meet the industry’s highest standards.

Last summer, Keven Laporte acquired the Landmark Passivhaus business after having worked for seven years on several passive house projects with Jim Iredale. It’s a highly promising transition, according to the latter, who is delighted that his vision of “always doing better and delivering better” can continue in spite of his departure for pre-retirement.

“I am really happy that Keven has decided to ensure the continuity of Landmark Passivhaus,” says Mr. Iredale. “I have no doubts about his competence and his will to continue to build the best buildings. Passive is really the best… it’s applied science. These buildings are designed to stand the test of time. One can achieve calculated results. I have seen the Hydro-Québec bills for a number of the houses I’ve worked on and they perform as anticipated,” Jim states. He will continue to work with his former company as a consultant.

Building for the future

According to Jim, Keven has discovered the age-old know-how of passive solar energy, combined with new materials having a high coefficient of insulation. When the young contractor was getting ready to build his dream home, he interrupted his project to completely review his plans and to apply passive house standards to his future home.

“My partner didn’t agree in the beginning,” Keven admits. “But now she would never go back. The possibility of using the sun as the principal heat source produces unequalled comfort. The house is always at the same temperature. There’s no convection at the edges of the windows, even at night. And the added soundproofing provides a real feeling of safety and security. It’s very quiet,” he explains.

Absolute comfort that stands the test of time

In addition to providing unequalled comfort and durability, passive buildings are on average 85 per cent more energy-efficient than conventional homes. While their cost is from eight to 15 per cent higher than a house built according to the RBQ Code, the return on investment is immediate. It should be emphasized, as well, that these residences are designed to last for more than 100 years. Because of that, their footprint is reduced.

We might ask ourselves why all new residences are not passive. First, it’s important to work with designers of passive houses from the beginning of the project to rigorously plan each step of the process. Then there’s the choice of the land: it has to be south-facing.

Then the design has to be adapted to achieve the required efficiency, which is heating requirements below 15 kilowatt-hours/m2/year. By way of comparison, a house built in accordance with the construction code of the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ) uses 100 kilowatt-hours/ m2/year.

News about Mont-Tremblant’s very first passive house

In 2015, we wrote an article about the appearance of the very first passive house in the Mont-Tremblant area. A high-performance residence heated for only 41 cents per day based on a sales price of 8.60 cents/ kilowatt hour. Jim Iredale managed to deliver a house almost ten times more airtight than a residence meeting Novoclimat 2.0 standards and showing triple the efficiency standard of passive houses bearing the German name Passivhaus. Its owners, Danièle St-Martin and Luc Bombardier, are open about their pleasure in living in such a home.

“It could not be a more pleasant living environment,” say Danièle and Luc. “It’s always the same temperature. You feel really good in it. The only problem is that people who come to visit tend to stay longer than anticipated, because they feel really good, too,” they add, laughing.

landmarkpassivhaus.com

More from this author by clicking on his photo below.